James edwin gee and prttdttricg samuel gee



' Re. v J. E. GEE ET AL DISPLAY DEVICE May 27 1924.

Original Filed Nov. 25, 22

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Reiuued my 27, 1924.

UNI ED 'srA'ras PATENT OFFICE.

JAHES EDWIN GEE AND FREDERI CN SAMUEL GEE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

I DISPLAY DEVICE.

I Oll'inl-lNO. 1,488,740, dated July 81, 1928, Serial No. 803,329, filed November 26, 1922. Application for reissue llled November 28, 1923. Serial llo, 677,517.

To all whom it may cmwem:

Be it known that we, JAMES and FREDERICK SAMUEL Gun, both subjects of the King of Great Britain and Ireland,

residing at 235 High Holborn, London, W.

C. 1, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Display Devices (on which application. has been made for Letters Patent in Great Britain,

No. 32,713, filed the 6th December, 1921,

cognate with No. 26,726, filed 3rd October, 1922), of which the following is a fication. a

This invention is for improvements in or relating to those display devices in which an advertisement or other notice is formed by tablets constituting characters (such as letters, numbers and the like) which are adapted to be ositioned and'held upon a sup ort, the ta let being formed with feet to a ut a support, said feet being integral with .the remainder of the tablet.

According to the present invention the tablet has feet formed integrally b portions bent over at its margins, the eet allowing the tablet to stand firmly on the sup orting surface and form an anglewith sal supporting surface.

The invention is particularl applicable to a magnetic display device 0 the type in which small permanent magnets are incorporated in display tablets, the latter being thus adapted to be held by a magnetic attraction upon a support of para-magnetic material such as an iron or steel plate.

The invention therefore includes a display tablet for use in a ma etic display device of the kind specified a ove, and characterized by the fact that the tablet is of para- 40 magnetic material with the feet aforesaid constituting ma net poles.

It has been ound that when only two ma et poles are incorporated in each tablet as eretofore and when the tablets are small (for example, half-an-inch in length and width) there may not be sufiicient magnetic attraction exerted to ensure that the tablets will remain undisturbed in their position on the sup ort when the latter is subjected to slight s ocks or vibrations or when the whole Eowm Gan specicordin to a feature of this invention, provlded 1n one and the same tablet. This construction has the additional advantage of forming a more rigid base to abut the support, as will be more particularly described hereinafter.

The marginal portions of each tablet whether the latter is to be used in connection with a magnetic display (device or otherwise, are so arranged and are of such length as to maintain the display surface of the character at any desired distance from the support and at any desired angle. thereto.

One preferred form of the invention as applied to a magnetic dis lay device will now be described in detai by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of a ortion of a support with two tablets in position thereon, and

Figure 2 is, a plan of two tablets viewed in the direction of their reverse sides; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of'one form of my device showing the lower feet shorter than the upper feet so that the sign letter will be placed at an angle to the support.

The tablets v5 are cut out from a sheet of para-magnetic material, conveniently b stamping and in the present example'eacli tablet represents in outline a letter of the alphabetthe letters D and N being illustrated. Each tablet is formed with a pluralityof lugs 7 which extend outwards from the periphery of the tablet and'at' approximately opposite margins thereof. In the two letters shown in the drawings there are four lugs on each letter. These lugs are bent over to lie substantially at right-an les to the display face' of the character. onvenientlythe tablets are cut out from sheet material, and the lugs bent over in the required manner in a single stam ing 0 eration. Each tablet is magnetize and t ereupon becomes virtually; a small permanent magnet, the poles being constituted by the lugs aforesaid and the yoke by. that part of the tablet which bridges between the there are two small permanent magnets incorporated in each tablet, the two poles at the-top of thetablet being of o osite polarity to those at the bottom. 11 general with any tablet the latter is so magnetized poles. Thus, with the two lettersillustrated that the poles on opposite sides of a Straight line crossing t e tablet are of opposite polarity.

A backing pr support 6 in the forin of a sheet of para-magnetic material is provided as a positionin member for the'tablets. The dlsplasur ace of the support may be ornament in any desired manner, and similarly the display faces of the letters may also be.ornamented.

It will be seen that the lugs 7 forming the'magnet poles also constitute foot membersto rest upon the surface of the support. It will also be seen that by the provision of a plurality of such foot members not only is a rigid base provided for each tablet but also the magnetic attraction between the tablets and the support is enhanced. The distance at which the display surface of the letters is spaced from the suprt is determined b the de th of the lugs (t Inthe example il ustrate these lugs are of equal length, and the display surface of the letters is therefore arallel with the surface of the support. f the letters are required to stand out at an angle to the support it is only necessary to make the lugs at one margin -of shorter length than those at the opposite margin.

In the foregoing example the invention has been described in its application to magnetic display apparatus. As'before stated the invention is applicable also to display devices in generaL. That is to sa magnetic attraction does not necessaril the holding means between the tab et and the sup rt; and the tablets do not there fore, o necessity, require to be made of para-magnetic material. Thus the tablets 5, representin the letters D and N in the drawing, mig t be secured in any desired manner, for exam 1e by soldering, to a support such as 6. Vdlxatever method be adopted to secure the tablets to the support, the former are in each case characterized by the provision of feet b means-of which the characters represented by the tablets are form spaced apart from the surface of the supmagnetic poles for the attachment of the said tablet to the surface of the said plate.

2. A display device comprising a plate of magnetic material, a detachable tablet of desired shape and character formed of paramagnetic material and a plurality of pairs of feet, the feet of eachpair being of the same len h, formed integrally with said tablet, said feet being adapted to form pairs of magnetic poles for the attachment of the said tablet to the surface of the said plate.

3. A display device comprising a plate of magnetiematerial, a detachable tablet of desired shape and character formed of paramagnetic material and a plurality of feet formed integrally with said tablet, said feet being adapted to form magnetic poles for the attachment of said feet to the surface of said plate, said feet upon opposite ends of the tablet being of different lengths whereby said tablet may form an angle with said surface of said plate.

4. A display device comprising a plate of magnetic material, a detachable tablet of desired shape and character formed of paramagnetic material and a plurality ofpairs of feet fonnedintegrally 'with said tablet, said .feet being adapted to form pairs of magnetic poles for the attachment of said feet to the surface of said plate, said feet upon opposite ends of the tablet being of different lengths whereby said tablet may form an angle with said surface of said plate.

In testimony whereof we affix our sigua- 

